'Entire Streets' of Roman London Uncovered in the City

An archaeological dig in the city of London has uncovered around 10,000 finds ranging from leather shoes to a beautiful amber amulet in the shape of a gladiator's helmet dating from between AD 40 to the early 5th Century.
The area has been dubbed the "Pompeii of the north" due to the perfect preservation of organic artefacts


An amber amulet in the shape of a gladiator's helmet .

At 40ft (12m), the site is believed to be one of the deepest archaeological digs in London, and the team have removed 3,500 tonnes of soil in six months.

Museum of London archaeologists (MOLA), who led the excavation of the site, say it contains the largest collection of small finds ever recovered on a single site in London, covering a period from the AD 40s to the early 5th Century.

MOLA's Sophie Jackson said the site contains "layer upon layer of Roman timber buildings, fences and yards, all beautifully preserved and containing amazing personal items, clothes and even documents.

It contains the bed of the Walbrook, one of the "lost" rivers of London, and features built-up soil waterfronts and timber structures, including a complex Roman drainage system used to discharge waste from industrial buildings. Organic materials such as leather and wood were preserved in an anaerobic environment, due to the bed being waterlogged.
www.bbc.co.uk...

Timber foundation beams from Roman building .


In pictures: London's 'deepest' Roman excavation finds

I think the gladiator's helmet amulet is absolutely stunning and the level of preservation of the artifacts is incredible given they've been in the ground for between 1500 to 2000 years .

What an amazing find!
That amber amulet is beautiful! With the way the front has that "design" on it, I wonder if it may have also been used as a seal?

from above...

The site also includes a previously unexcavated section of the Temple of Mithras, a Roman cult, which was first unearthed in 1954.

from here...

Bloomberg Place, roughly the size of a Manhattan city block, is the future European home of Michael R. Bloomberg’s company and charity.

It is the biggest development in this city’s buzzing financial district, and even Olympics-jaded Londoners call it grandiose: two bronze-and-stone towers, connected by sky-bridges atop the ruins of a 2,000-year-old Roman temple.

so ever popular( ) new york mayor bloomberg is building his new headquarters on top of an old temple of mithras'.
what's up with that?

also, taken literally, this is funny...

A wooden door, only the second to be found in London, is another prize find.

what do they use for doors there?

Civilizations building on top of each other. Like an onion, the geography of this planet is layered in human history. I wonder if such discoveries will encourage archaeological digs. Presently, ground-penetrating radar provides one way to survey the land without penetrating it. However even this has limitations. Imagine if we had access to all the treasures, all the wealth and relics of past civilization buried beneath our feet. Makes me wonder if we truly know how much is out there still waiting to be unearthed.

reply to post by chiefsmom


I agree , the craftsmanship on the amber amulet is stunning and the level of preservation , to think we're looking at something that last time it was seen was by the Roman that either lost it or used it as a votive offering .

Archaeology can sometimes take you breath away

reply to post by MysteriousHusky


I'm not sure about other parts of the world but here it's a legal requirement that any new building work undertakes an archaeological survey before building can begin , in built up areas like London that gives us the chance to find treasures like this before they're destroyed .

Once again the quality of the workmanship on this piece of leather is exquisite .

reply to post by gortex


That is a stunning find, the state of preservation is amazing.
I wonder how the district came to be buried with so much cultural material.
S and F,
Once again Britain provides a look into the Roman world.

reply to post by punkinworks10

I wonder how the district came to be buried with so much cultural material.

Given the site dates back to the early days of Londinium perhaps it was due to the rebellion led by Boadicea in which she sacked Londinium in AD 60 , the site may have been rebuilt which could be why the archeology is so deep ... I guess time will tell .

Bet?

No mention of Christ.

Takers?

Originally posted by gortex
An archaeological dig in the city of London has uncovered around 10,000 finds ranging from leather shoes to a beautiful amber amulet in the shape of a gladiator's helmet dating from between AD 40 to the early 5th Century.
The area has been dubbed the "Pompeii of the north" due to the perfect preservation of organic artefacts

You got there first, but I'll happily add my comments from the thread I started (and closed):

Well, doesn't this get the 'shovel monkey' in me all excited! Field season is near to opening here in the Colonies, but well underway back in Blighty. This is an extraordinary site! The amber amulet in the shape of a gladiator's helmet is particularly nice...but it's not about the goodies, right?

S&F2U!

S&F for posting. Very very interesting indeed.

Eagerly awaiting the exhibition in 2016 of these finds.

Originally posted by gortex
Once again the quality of the workmanship on this piece of leather is exquisite .

I agree. Just beautiful, I have never seen anything like it. The find of the door mentioned in the article interests me too. The nature of this site, and the level of preservation resulting from the saturation means that items that normally would have been reduced to dust, are in near perfect state, meaning that we can learn a lot about the day to day, normal lives of these people, especially in terms of domestic arts, which is something that is of particular interest to me. Very, very exciting.

Thanks

reply to post by JohnnyCanuck


No problem mate

The amber amulet in the shape of a gladiator's helmet is particularly nice...but it's not about the goodies, right?

You're right , the gladiator's helmet amulet is a sweet find and I bet even better when seen in person but it is the link to the past in the building construction remnants and the the hand written notes that bring the human element to it .

I did a bit of archeology in my teens with a local council group but nothing as interesting as this , if it had been maybe I would of stuck with it but I was young and had other fish to fry

Originally posted by MysteriousHusky
Civilizations building on top of each other. Like an onion, the geography of this planet is layered in human history. I wonder if such discoveries will encourage archaeological digs. Presently, ground-penetrating radar provides one way to survey the land without penetrating it. However even this has limitations. Imagine if we had access to all the treasures, all the wealth and relics of past civilization buried beneath our feet. Makes me wonder if we truly know how much is out there still waiting to be unearthed.

we should feel lucky we find anything at all really, a lot of it is either destroyed melted down, subducted by the earth or never found.

this is why finding fossils is such a big deal, we may never find even a percent of them, i can't think how much human remains will never be found.

this is awesome though! i just hope no one can skirt the laws,mostly for the sake of all the artifacts that might be found.

Originally posted by MUness
Bet?

No mention of Christ.

Takers?

I'm an Atheist, but I agree with you.

1. What are Roman items doing all the way up there across the English channel?

2. We know Jesus was killed by the Romans, could this site give us any leads that may influence or change Christianity in any way?

Regards,

Stock Loc

Originally posted by StockLoc
I'm an Atheist, but I agree with you.

1. What are Roman items doing all the way up there across the English channel?

2. We know Jesus was killed by the Romans, could this site give us any leads that may influence or change Christianity in any way?

Regards,

Stock Loc

I live in York, which is a couple of hundred miles (give or take) North of London, and the Romans made it all the way up here, and beyond, hence Hadrian's Wall. They came here for the trade and resources, tin, lead, pearls from Scotland etc.

In terms of the second point, Constantine was, when made Emperor, stationed in York, and there is some evidence that Christianity had reached here by that point. Specifically, a stone grave marker for a Standard Bearer that depicts what could be a Christian cross. There are of course earlier Temples, dedicated to Jupiter and the cult of Mithriaism, but wherever the Romans went, they created roads and therefore communication, which included the transmission of ideas and beliefs like Christianity. So while Christianity may not have been widespread amongst the Roman elite, it is accepted that it was amongst the 'common-people', everywhere that they went.

The tombstone in question...

www.historyofyork.org.uk...

Originally posted by StockLoc
1. What are Roman items doing all the way up there across the English channel?

The Roman Empire spread all over Europe.

Map of Roman empire (2nd c. A.D.)

2. We know Jesus was killed by the Romans, could this site give us any leads that may influence or change Christianity in any way?

I doubt it. Jesus was a very small part in the 500+ year history of the Rome Empire.

reply to post by StockLoc

1. What are Roman items doing all the way up there across the English channel?

Rome controlled England for about 400 years , The people of England were in essence Romans (Romano British) during that time and we pretty much fell apart when Rome left .

reply to post by KilgoreTrout


I love York. My girlfriend and i often catch the train up there from Leeds and spend a day or so there, get a nice hotel and see the sites.

There was the guy who swore he saw Roman soldiers walk past him in the cellar. Later during a dig they found a Roman road beneath where he saw them.

One morning in 1953, an apprentice plumber, named Harry Martindale, was installing a new central heating system in the cellars of the Treasurer's House when he heard the distinctive sound of a distant horn. He thought it strange that the sound should reach him so far underground, but carried on working up his ladder. The horn continued to sound, each time appearing a little closer.

Suddenly a huge great cart horse emerged straight through the brick wall of the cellar! Harry fell off his ladder in shock and, as he crouched on the floor, he was able to see clearly that the horse was being ridden by a dishevelled Roman soldier. He was slowly followed by several fellows, dressed in rough green tunics and plumed helmets, carrying short swords and spears.

They all looked down in a dejected manner as they continued towards the Minster, apparently on their knees! As they reached the centre of the room, however, they emerged into a recently excavated area and it became clear that they were walking on the old Roman road buried 15 inches below the surface!

York ghosts

There's the big column opposite York Minster too isn't there.

Then there's the more recent find of the gladiator cemetery...

The haunting mystery of Britain's headless Romans may have been solved at last, thanks to scars from a lion's bite and hammer marks on decapitated skulls.

The results of forensic work, announced today, on more than 80 skeletons of well-built young men, gradually exhumed from the gardens of a York terrace over a decade, suggests that the world's best-preserved gladiator graveyard has been found.

Many of the 1,800-year-old remains indicate much stronger muscles in the right arm, a condition noted by Roman writers in slaves trained from their teens to fight in the arena. Advanced mineral testing of tooth enamel also links the men to a wide variety of Roman provinces, including North Africa, which was another a feature of gladiator recruitment.

Scars from lion bite suggest headless Romans found in York were gladiators

CX.

reply to post by CX


Nice ghost story,
When I make it to the UK I'm going put York on the list.
That would be awsome to see a Roman ghost.
I've seen a couple of full or mostly full bodied apparitions in my day.